Project scope:
Concept design, floor layout plans, 3D model, interior elevations and sections, photorealistic visualisations, bespoke furniture technical drawings, materials and furnishings procurement list, realisation

Floor area: 229 m²

On the edge of Turnov's historic centre, a project took shape that was always intended to transcend the conventional perception of a healthcare facility. Within a newly built three-storey building, the ground floor became home to the new Turnov Rehabilitation Centre, whilst the two upper floors were given over to a private apartment for the investors.

The brief was both sensitive and deeply inspiring from the start — to create an environment that would feel neither sterile nor cold, but would instead offer a sense of calm, trust, and natural lightness. A place where people would not feel like patients, but like visitors to a space that helps them slow down, breathe, and gradually find their equilibrium again.

The entire concept is therefore woven through with the motif of the circle — a symbol of unity, harmony, cyclicality, and health. Together with my collaborator, we allowed it to permeate the interior in a gentle, consistent way. It appears in the backlit circular niches of the plasterboard ceilings, in the pendant lights above the reception, and in the graphically rendered wayfinding system on the floor. These organic lines then carry through into the form of the reception desk, the bespoke bench, and various individual statement pieces.

Material selection plays a major role here. Light, straight-grained oak brings warmth and a sense of naturalness to the space, whilst the trowelled finishes on both floors and walls create a soft, calm backdrop with a slightly industrial undertone. Vertical greenery in the corridors and waiting areas literally breathes life into the interior, introducing the energy of nature — which, in a rehabilitation setting, becomes almost a therapeutic element in its own right.

As the accent tone, we chose a pastel turquoise — a gentle, fresh, and optimistic colour that appears on ceilings, in furniture details, in the wall graphics, and in the wayfinding system. Combined with the oak and neutral surfaces, it creates an atmosphere of lightness, cleanliness, and positive energy.

Lighting became another essential layer of the project — not merely as a functional element, but as a tool for shaping mood. The backlit circles, the play of shadow, and the softly diffused illumination lend the space a certain softness and visual calm that one instinctively seeks in this type of environment.

We also didn't want the interior to take itself too seriously. And so a series of bespoke, custom-designed artworks was created, appearing in the restrooms and individual treatment rooms — bringing a touch of wit, humour, and humanity to the space. A moment of surprise that often draws a smile even before a session begins.

The result is a space that bears no resemblance to a conventional rehabilitation clinic. It feels more like a harmonious place with its own rhythm, where aesthetics support function, and where every detail was conceived with the person in mind — their psychological wellbeing as much as their path to recovery.

The project is now in its final phase of realisation and is slowly preparing for its true beginning — its first visitors, first stories, and first moments of returning to movement and ease. Even now, it is clear that what has been created here is not merely a rehabilitation centre, but a space with its own character and energy — one with the ambition to become somewhere people will genuinely want to return to.

Project: 2019–2020
Realisation: 2023–present
Visualisations: Dina Nazhmedenova
Collaboration: Ing. arch. Lucie Náhlovská